A Week Is Three Weeks too Little

Given all the spectacular anchorages and great folks at Antigua, it’s a pity we’re leaving today for Jolly Harbour to set up the 70-mile broad reach to St. Barth on Friday. Before we leave, we’d like to share another photo we took of the anchorage at Green Island with our drone.

The magnificent schooner off to the right in the photo is Germania Nova, a 196-footer built in 2009 that is a replica of the original Germania, which was built in 1908. The second photo shows what she looks like under sail. The good news is that she’s for sale. Maintenance, however, is going to cost a pretty penny, so think twice before taking a leap.

In our previous report from Antigua, we mentioned that we’d seen a bloke from London t-bone a local’s 27-ft sloop, putting a big hole in the side of her hull. The operator readily admitted guilt, but then his daughter, possibly a lawyer, started mumbling something ridiculous like “the transmission broke.” There was no problem with the transmission; the problem was the first-time operator didn’t realize that you lose steering on most Jet Skis once you back off the throttle. And that there are consequences when you drive a Jet Ski at 25 knots in a 5-knot zone.

We befriended Tony, the local owner of the boat. We shuttled him around to see the perpetrator and local officials, hoping we could make sure he didn’t get screwed. Yesterday we got a phone call from Tony, who happily reported that he’d been given nearly $5,000 in compensation. We’re not sure that’s going to be enough to properly repair the boat. On the other hand, it might be more than the value of the boat itself, which has seen hard times. But at least he’s happy.

The photo of the woman at the ancient windlass used to pull British ships onto their sides for hull cleaning is Doña de Mallorca. Thirty years before we’d taken almost the same photo of her. After speaking for about 15 minutes, we didn’t see her again for 10 years. We’ve been seeing her pretty regularly for the last 20 years.

We’ve had such a great time at Antigua, which has enough protected anchorages for at least a month of quiet cruising, that we’re putting the island back in heavy rotation for next year.